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Art

The UK is renowned for the quality of its Art and Design courses, and entry to the top Art Schools is extremely competitive. At Thomas More we try to provide a broad and balance curriculum for our students that would like to continue with creative courses at A-level.

A-level art at Thomas More follows the AQA specification, a two-year course compromising of 2 components.

Student Profile
Students who study Art will have an passion and curiosity for the subject. They will need to have a confident ability in the application of practical art skills and a determination to continue improving. Art is subjective; and so we do not require a certain style or type of artist but we look for students who are committed to growth, unafraid of failure and open to experimenting with processes that are outside of their comfort zone. 

Component 1 – Personal Investigation (60%)
In Component 1, students develop work based on an idea, issue, concept or theme leading to a finished outcome or a series of related finished outcomes. Practical elements should make connections with some aspect of contemporary or past practice of artist(s), designer(s), photographers or craftspeople and include written work of no less than 1000 and no more than 3000 words which supports the practical work.

Component 2 – Externally set assignment (40%)
In Component 2, students respond to a stimulus, provided by AQA, to produce work which provides evidence of their ability to work independently within specified time constraints, developing a personal and meaningful response which addresses all the assessment objectives and leads to a finished outcome or a series of related finished outcomes.

Entry requirements
Students are asked to submit an example of their work and a supporting statement of 200 words outlining why they wish to do Art A-level.

Students are required to achieve a 5+ in their art GCSE.

We will consider those students who have not taken an art GCSE or who have not achieved a 5+ but this will be based on the submission and review of a portfolio of work and supporting statement of 300 words.  

Career Prospects
The creative industries are one of the UKs largest industries, it’s a £92bn sector growing at twice the rate of the economy. Perusing the arts can land you a job within many different sectors including:

Advertising, Architecture, Art, Crafts, Design, Fashion, Music, Performing Arts, Publishing, Research and Development, TV, Radio and Video Games.

Department Members

  • Miss A Garcia (Head of Department)
  • Miss A Schutz